>Customers are pulling that data and those customers, by definition, are already paying for the bandwidth
Downloading bandwidth is free. The person who is uploading is the person who pays.
Downloading bandwidth is free. The person who is uploading is the person who pays.
On top of this, Netflix offers to install CDN nodes within other ISP's networks to reduce that ISP's traffic across exchanges (connections between ISPs). If an ISP doesn't see the value in those and wants to treat Netflix like any other traffic that makes it's way to AWS, they're welcome to do so; it's just very not in their favor. Them using that as a cudgel to try and extort money out of Netflix is absurd.
Now that I think of it, I don't know whether my capped mobile usage counts uploads towards my contracted limits. I assume it does.
Some telcos, mostly in Europe, are trying to force through sender-pays settlement because it would make them money but that's fairly recent and I hope it doesn't go through.
Buying internet transit typically works by paying something based on max(ingress, egress) * bandwidth cost where bandwidth is measured at the 95th percentile of utilization for a month.